Wraysbury Lake Sailing Club

Founded 1956......and still going strong!

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Going Solo by Richard Lock

If you are without a boat, or are thinking of changing your boat to a single-hander, let me tempt you to think about getting a Solo. The obvious choice at the Club is to choose either a Laser or a Solo if single-handed competition is what you are after.

Jack Holt, the designer of both the National Solo and many other highly successful one design dinghies, was a founder member of Wraysbury Lake Sailing Club and its Commodore from 1956-61. As a consequence many of his designs including the prototype National Solo were extensively tested on Wraysbury Lake. So not surprisingly the Solo is well suited to our waters Its big, fully battened, sail is shaped to capitalise on whatever the wind conditions might be; it can scoop up the lightest of zephyrs but cunningham, kicker, outhaul and mainsheet traveller mean that the sail can be de-powered very quickly. Part of the fun of sailing the Solo is getting to know how to balance these controls to get most from the sail.

The Solo is comfortable to sail, notwithstanding a lowish boom that can knock you a few times around the head before you learn how to duck. The contoured side decks allow easy movement fore and aft as you shift position from upwind sailing to reaching and running. If I have one quibble, it is that the mainsheet traveller which runs the full beam of the boat makes getting right forward to windward a bit tricky in very light winds. Tony Smith, John Hayes and Bob Sewell should be watched closely to see how it is done.

The Solo is a classic one-design single hander. In many ways a proper boat, one in which the helm sits rather than kneels or crouches. So it is comfortable and even in windy conditions fairly dry. The one-design feature ensures that boats of all ages can be highly competitive. However the class rules permit some small variations in rig and sail. So there is no optimum weight of helm, and helms ranging in weight from 10-17 stone can be very successful.

Don’t think that because of its bluff bow it is only a boat for flat inland waters. It is a very good sea boat although I have to admit that I am an absolute novice at making it go through chop. But you have to work it in any sea and this is where fitness strength and skill come in. Again the contoured side decks make hiking out as comfortable as any boat I have sailed and if you do ship water or capsize, the big built-in buoyancy means that it empties very quickly.

The Solo Fleet nationwide is a growing one, which means that Class membership is cheap at £15 p.a.. It is a thriving association with an active Open Meeting circuit and big turnouts (80 to 100 boats) at the major championships. There is a vigorous national and international programme of events if you seek adventure afar.

The boat is solidly designed and exhibits long competitive life, there are plenty of examples of boats over 30 years old being raced competitively at clubs like Wraysbury Lake. Even today, many boats are still built of wood to very high standards, although modern foam sandwich boats are available (both as all foam construction or finished with beautiful wooden decks) and are fast. This long life and wide selection of boats gives excellent value for money and superb racing..

The Solos at Wraysbury are out every Sunday, when the racing is keen but friendly. Every year we host an open meeting in the National Solo Thames Valley series, a meeting, which is always well supported, to be held this year on Sunday 6 May.

Force 5 @ Wraysbury	The Solo is a lightweight dinghy that is very responsive in the hands of a good helm, yet forgiving enough for those new to the sport. The fully battened sail ensures excellent performance in the lightest of breezes, yet the range of adjustments available allow it to be sailed in strong winds. In these strong breezes it rewards those skillful enough to balance the power of the wind on the sail with adjustments and body weight positioning giving rewarding speed on a high speed reach.
	Want to know more about the Solo? Click here for a link to the Solo Association web site.
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In July 2005 our team of Chris Vincent, Tony Lord & Dan Vincent went to the Solo World and National championships. Click here to see pictures from North Berwick. Click here to read all about exciting sailing in Solos

For more information about our Solo fleet call our fleet captain

Race results:- Solo open, 2008 click here and for photos click here

Race report:- Solo open, 2007 click here

Race report:- Solo open, 2006

It may be common knowledge in our club but is worth repeating for newer members who don’t know that 50 years ago Jack Holt designed the Solo dinghy while he was Wraysbury Lake Sailing Club’s first Commodore. And, so, this year happens to be the 50 th Anniversary of both The Solo Class Association and our own Club.

There is no doubt that Jack designed the boat with the shifty conditions of Wraysbury Lake in mind and, 50 years on, he would have chuckled at the conditions faced by four home club helms and eight visitors as they competed in this year’s Solo Open.

The wind was never more than a force 2 and it swung regularly through 90 degrees creating minute by minute challenges to be on the right tack whether going upwind or downwind; classic Wraysbury conditions. Who got it right? Well, Dan Goodman was first off the starting line in race 1 and was never headed. Race 2 saw Dan again leading from the start but he fell back to find that Steve Jones, a former Club member, had used all his knowledge of Wraysbury to gain a win. Race 3, with all to play for, saw Dan leading again from the start but he failed to cover his Kingsmead clubmate, Ian Ayres, as they turned at the leeward mark and Ian got through to take the bell and, on aggregate, win the event having secured second places in the first two races.

What of our home contingent? John Hayes, Richard Lock, Tony Lord and myself had our own contest at the back of the fleet. As with the fleet as a whole, places chopped and changed all day and I now that we all enjoyed the contest. This was a day of classic pond sailing which for this correspondent gladdened the heart but murdered the knees.

Our thanks go to Colin Hall for organising the running of the day overall, to Tom and Beryl Webster who carefully disguised who of them was the Senior O.D for the day, to Andy & Alison Struthers for running a much appreciated galley and to Kim Wilkinson for organising prizes and manning the bar.

Another nice outcome to the day was that Richard Lock agreed to take over as Solo Fleet captain when I move away from the area in the summer.

Chris Vincent

4109

Results

The printable version of the report from the 2006 Solo Open is here.

The report from the 2005 Solo Open is here.

See pictures from the 2005 light wind Open here.

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